Fledgling Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis must already be looking over his shoulder to his previous role at consumer goods giant Unilever, perhaps with a growing sense of alarm at the challenge he’s taken on.

It’s been well-documented that Britain’s biggest supermarket group has been fiddling with its numbers in an attempt to make its dire situation look better.

While losing market share to competitors like upstarts Aldi and Lidl, the share price has tanked, shedding half its value in a year.

The Serious Fraud Office begs to differ, however, and a criminal investigation has now been launched, superseding that of City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, which has shelved its own probe.

SFO agents investigate and prosecute serious and complex fraud and corruption. They will only launch a full investigation if satisfied there are reasonable grounds to pursue one, so the SFO involvement is an embarrassing development of the crisis now facing Tesco.

Eight executives linked to the accounting scandal are currently suspended while former boss Phil Clarke, the Ferrari-driving successor to Sir Terry Leahy, has had his pay-off withheld.

Nevertheless, Tesco is up against an organisation known widely as the Serious Farce Office for its lamentable prosecution record. The SFO is starved of cash, constantly pleading for more funding, and is stretched very thinly with a major investigation into FTSE 100 aero-engines maker Rolls-Royce. It is also reeling from a botched investigation into the collapse of the Icelandic bank Kaupthing – at the time its biggest-ever fraud probe – which saw the Tchenguiz brothers Robert and Vincent handed millions of pounds in damages.

SFO boss David Green pledges the agency has changed a great deal in the past three years, adding he is determined such mistakes will not be made again.

But with a more protracted investigation on the cards than is usual for the City watchdog the FCA, it will be some time before we see whether Green’s comments about the SFO hold true.

In the meantime, Tesco has lost control of the escalating scandal. With many of its most senior UK executives either suspended or having already left the business, Lewis has few places to turn within the grocer to help steady the ship.

Bell Tolls

Marks & Spencer long ago lost its place as the traditional bellwether of shopping trends on the British High Street.

That mantle has been taken up by today’s retail darling Next.

So the profit warning from Next – which had been flagged as likely in September – is doubly worrying for the followers of the fashion retail sector.

The unseasonably warm autumn temperatures, which have topped 20 degrees in most parts of the country, have deterred consumers from splashing out on new winter coats. Shoppers can be seen padding along the streets in shorts so demand for jumpers and scarves is bound to be at rock bottom.

Next will have to heavily discount unwanted stock at its popular post-Christmas sale, which will likely see shoppers flock to its stores, offsetting some of the financial pain.

Not all the lost sales can be recouped and more concerning is the impact of this sales trend on rival retailers. As veteran retail analyst Nick Bubb warns, if Next was mildly discomforted by the October weather, it’s a good bet the likes of M&S have had bigger problems. The M&S figures on November 5 are set to mean more fireworks for boss Marc Bolland.

Mixed Messages

John Lewis’ recent retail trends report outlined the department store giant’s view of the world, with consumers increasingly shifting to spending online and at odd times of the day.

The group clearly reckons traditional views of shopkeeping are now badly out of date, the implication being that there is reduced need to build out-of-town shopping centres and impersonal larger stores.

Someone should tell stablemate Waitrose.

The company beloved of Britain’s middle classes is presenting mixed messages when it comes to one Home Counties branch of its Waitrose supermarket chain.

The group is threatening to close a medium-sized Waitrose in the market town of Hertford, where many shoppers drop in on foot to grab a few supplies, in favour of a new, out-of-town megastore in the adjacent town of Ware, which will inevitably encourage more car journeys.

It seems the messages coming out of John Lewis HQ are not filtering down to store level.